What fish should I keep outside this summer?

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Rare Cichlids

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Dec 2, 2000
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I'm in the process of building a large pond outside and I'm looking for ideas on inhabitants. The pond is approximately 12' by 12' and 4' deep in the center. Typical pond fish such as Koi and Goldfish aren't really my cup o' tea. So I plan on keeping tropical species in it for the full time the temp is above 70*. I want to stock with a wide variety of easy to find and cheap fish. I plan to grow the fish for around 5 months and then capture them in the fall. I'm sure the magority of the pond grow outs can be traded in to the LFS and those that I want to keep can be kept indoors for the winter. So I'm basically just looking for interesting suggestions.

So far I'm thinking about

Guppies
Mollies
Sword Tails
Platies
Goramies
Red Devils
Green Terrors
Black Belts
Oscars
Severum
Red Parrots
Clown Knife
Silver Arowana


As you can see I'm hoping to keep it to things easily obtained at the LFS for a small price.

I'm sure there will be those that will try to discourage me, and doubt it will work. But I have few worries and am sure it will work out fine.


Moderators: [Even though this post is pertaining to a pond, it is not about the building of a pond, or about typical pond fish. It is about tropical fish which are more typically kept in indoor heated aquariums. Because of this I feel I would get a much better response in this forum. So as long as this isn't a serious offense, I'd appreciate this one being left here if it can be. Thanks :)]
 
You could do some sort of South American giants theme, maybe the aro and a red tailed cat or school of pacus. That would be hellacool, but you'd have a hard time trading all of those in at the end of summer. I think if you bought maybe 100 guppies, maybe a mix of feeders and fancies, you'd have a very lively tank. I don't think it'd cost you more than $100 for everyone, and they're all top swimmer, so you'll see the water always moving. Especially if it's OUT-outside, where they can get mosquito larvae. You wouldn't have to worry as much about temp. drops either. Man, that'd be fun. No matter what you do, you should get an acrylic cylinder to push into the water and take pictures. Good luck! Hey, if the guppies become a problem, just throw in some Nile perch and tilapia. They seem to be doing a good job of eating fish in other parts of the world.:rolleyes:
 
If trading them in September for dry goods at the lfs is part of the priority, why not discuss it with the manager now.

Your mix of fishes won't provide a mix of young. The young of one species will overwhelm the young of the others. Charles Darwin...

Among Anabantoids, Paradisefish will do better in a garden pond than gouramis. Not as saleable though.

I'd go for White Cloud Mountain Minnows and water plants in shallower edge areas. Plants are always more sellable than easily-bred fish.
 
the arowana would be cool if you get like a 5 incher or so he would grow to atleast a foot by the end of summer. he would be pretty heathy to cause of water capacity and they are surface swimmers. whats wrong with koi? i have a koi pond and they are just like my oscars always rushing up to get food and they look great if you have a lot with lots of different colors. john
 
Trading fish back to the LFS isn't a priority, its just a way to get rid of the fish once it gets cold. I'm not really worried about getting a lot of stuff back on a trade, and in fact I probably wouldn't care if I could just get a few fish for my tanks indoors. I know my LFS owners very well and there will be no problems with them taking fish later this fall.

I don't want to stock it with all huge fish. People around here have a bad case of 'Small Tank Syndrome' and I've already adopted several large Pacu and such, that others can't care for. But I may try just 1-2 big fish. Like the Knife or Aro I listed.

Nothings wrong with Koi. I'm just more interested in Tropicals.

I'll probably wind up with several of the Cichlids I listed, a large group of Live-bearers, and 1-2 very large growing species.
 
Has anyone ever tried Harlequin Rasboras in a pond? I'm going to be starting a small 250g pond in a month or so and want to try some tropical fish. Could I put 20-30 in the spring and end up with 100 in the fall? I love those fish!

I might do some swordtails, too. I love the natural, wild strains.
 
I now have three years of trying to raise guppies outside in a kid's swimming pool. I can tell you the hardest thing about it is catching them all in the fall! Even taking most of the water out makes it very time consuming.

Also, an even temperature is very difficult to maintain. Heat is released very quickly at night. If you have fish that really need to be above 70, then you need to consider additional heating. And during the day the water can also get too warm.

The guppies handled the stress very well. I'm not sure about the other fish you listed.
 
That's what I did last summer (not that I left the fish in there for the winter and they're probly all dead....) but this summer I'd like to try to bring the fish in, I really regret leaving them to die.

If you can get any of the pancax killifish species, those were really neat. They'll stay around the surface, like the guppies, and they have huge mouths compaired to body size, so they're neat. I remeber seeing them jump out of the water to catch ants and other small insects neat the waters edge, very neat, IMO.

Since mine was a custom shaped pond, I built it to the size that fit in my yard (it's "hidden" which was the only way my parents would allow me to dig hole in the backyard) The pond was 1 1/2 feet at the deepest, with lots of shallow areas. It's probly between 100-200 US gallons, but I really have no idea, just guesses. Here's what I had and how they did.

Guppies- threw in about +30 fancy guppies that had been fry from the previous year, they "cycled" the pond, and they thrived.

Chinese Algae Eaters- there were original 2, but I only ever saw one at a time (really had to look) but he doubled in size in about 2 months.

Black Phantom Tetras- put in 3, one died, throught the other two had died two, I never saw them, but one day an insect landed in the pond and "jaws" surfaced. It kinda surprised me the first time, all I saw was a splash, and the bug going to the deep, I didn't actually see the fish till about a week later. But those were one of my favorites because you didn't always see the actual fish.

Buenos Aires Tetras-population, 3. same as Balck Tetras, only a little bit more visable.

Paradise Fish- 1, seen from time to time

Golden Wonder Killie (pancax)- 2, see above

Weather Loaches-4, didn't see them that much, they may have actually survieved the witer, I'll have to check this spring

Pumkinseeds (sunfish)-I added about 6 of these little guys, from my aunt's pond, all about quater to nickel size, many of them doubled or tripled their size in about a month. And there was one hudge one that maybe grew to about the size of a silver dollar in that time. Very cichlid like behavior. These might also have survived the winter.

American Flag fish- added two males, and 4 females. The males set up territories, while the females stayed in a school. The attempted to breed, with courtship and some rubbing together, but I don't think anything came of it. The male did guard a small aea for about a week, but I never saw eggs or fry. This all happened when the pond was at its warmest.

So, just some suggestions for smaller pond fish, with the paradise, black tetras, weather loaches and sunnies probly being the hardiet of all the fish.
 
I'd think anything larger would get eating. Up here we have lots of problems with egrets and herons (personally I think it'd be cool to have a heron in my backyard). The golden wonder panchax is a good idea, but be careful, they're major jumpers. I bet though when it's dusk and the insects come out, your water would like you had powerheads in it. They're very active top swimmers and eaters and would probably demolish everything that touched the surface.
 
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